Authorities arrest Coprolac owner over alleged Segalmex fraud
Police in Torreón, Coahuila, detained Carlos Ernesto H.R., known as “El Güino”, during an operation at a shopping centre. The owner of Comercializadora de Productos Lácteos de la Laguna, or Coprolac, was arrested with 17 other people who were carrying firearms.
The operation followed several calls to the 911 emergency service reporting a convoy of vehicles arriving at the shopping-centre car park with armed escorts. Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís, Torreón’s mayor, said that all 18 detainees were transferred to the common-law public prosecutor’s office.
The initial charges include violence against law-enforcement personnel and suspected bribery. State authorities are examining whether the vehicles were legally obtained and whether the group held valid permits for the weapons that were seized. The Coahuila state attorney-general’s office is expected to determine the detainees’ legal status.
The arrest brought renewed attention to Coprolac’s role in a case involving Seguridad Alimentaria Mexicana, known as Segalmex, during the administration of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Court file 111/2023 records that Liconsa paid Coprolac 243.7m pesos for the processing and supply of powdered milk. The company did not establish that the products had physically reached state warehouses, according to the case materials.
Investigative reporting by Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad said that Coprolac, Grupo Vicente Suárez 73 and a network of 12 microenterprises moved more than 400m pesos originating from the simulated sale of dairy products. The investigation also includes alleged overpricing in milk purchases and transfers of real estate to relatives of former officials at the agency responsible for social food supplies.
The judicial investigation also covers Liconsa procurement procedures and alleged use of nominees in the state supply chain. The latest arrest adds the company’s owner to the proceedings while the authorities review the charges arising from the Torreón operation and the wider Segalmex case.
